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Acrocanthosaurus
Overview 30 million years after the extinction of Allosaurus, another giant predator called Acrocanthosaurus took over. The predators of Acrocanthosaurus' day such as Deinonychus would be no match for this predator. The later Cretaceous Tyrannosaurs were numerous and successful, and Tyrannosaurus rex was very slightly larger than Acrocanthosaurus. Another interesting fact about Acrocanthosaurus is that it had a mini sail, smaller than that of Spinosaurus or Oxalaia or any spinosaur, but almost an actual sail. This may have served as storage for extra fat when food was scarce. The sail of Spinosaurus would have been a huge disadvantage if it ever had to battle another large predatory dinosaur, or even a large herbivorous dinosaur. If the spine was twisted or broke, it could injure or kill the Spinosaurus as it was connected to the Spinosaurus' backbone. Although Acrocanthosaurus' hump was also connected to its backbone, it was much shorter and would be nearly impossible to twist unlike Spinosaurus'. Acrocanthosaurus was also a relative of Allosaurus. It was a Carcharodontosaur, a type of predator that produced many species larger than T. rex. Some Carcharodontosaurs that were larger than or similar in size to Tyrannosaurus Rex include Giganotosaurus- the largest, Mapusaurus, Tyrannotitan, and Carcharodontosaurus itself. Acrocanthosaurus is the state dinosaur of Oklahoma. This is interesting as Oklahoma already has a state fossil, Saurophaganax. Predator Effectiveness Acrocanthosaurus was specially designed to kill very large herbivores like Sauroposeidon. While Tyrannosaurus had a much stronger bite and was slightly larger, it did not have as powerful of a build as Acrocanthosaurus. This was because Tyrannosaurus was designed to kill herbivores that were slightly smaller than itself including Hadrosaurs, Ceratopsians, and Ankylosaurs. Acrocanthosaurus, on the other hand targeted prey that were far larger than itself, such as Sauroposeidon. Although Tyrannosaurus' bite was immensely powerful and therefore extremely useful at targeting medium-sized herbivores, and would also be better than any other weapon a predatory dinosaur ever had, it would be completely useless against Sauroposeidon. It would be too clumsy to land a good bite in. Acrocanthosaurus, however, was a Carcharodontosaur with a bite that made its victims bleed out. In this case, the stronger bite force would actually not be beneficial. In contrast to Tyrannosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus' vision was very poor. Like all Carcharodontosaurs, it had its eyes on the side of its head. This gave very poor stereoscopic vision. Almost all top predators today have their eyes on the front of their head, including humans. Tyrannosaurus' eye placement was superior to humans, as they probably had around six times as good 3-D vision. Carcharodontosaurs like Acrocanthosaurus on the other hand had much poorer vision. Unlike Tyrannosaurs and Abelisaurs, Acrocanthosaurus' arms were very powerful. Even Tyrannosaurus actually had very powerful arms, capable of lifting well over a hundred kilograms, Acrocanthosaurus may have been able to lift around a tonne. This would also make the strikes from its arms far more powerful, although not quite as great as that of the spinosaurs like Spinosaurus and Oxalaia. Acrocanthosaurus was designed perfectly for bringing down enormous Sauropod dinosaurs. Once these disappeared, the limited left Acrocanthosaurus with no options but the more sophisticated herbivores that were designed to repel the former top predators. Over specialization is what brings many creatures to extinction. Another example would be Spinosaurus, which relied on the swamps of Africa. Trivia * Acrocanthosaurus is the state dinosaur of Oklahoma. # Oklahoma already has a state fossil, Saurophaganax maximus. * Acrocanthosaurus could probably lift around a tonne with its arms. * Acrocanthosaurus was designed to attack prey that weighed over 30 tonnes such as Sauroposeidon. * Acrocanthosaurus was nearly as large as Tyrannosaurus. Category:Predator Category:Chordata Category:Mesozoic Category:Predatory dinosaur Category:Dinosaurs from north america Category:Bigger than T-Rex Category:Terrestrial Category:Cretaceous Category:Top Ten List Featured! Category:Reptile